Addictions News Now Newsletter: Current Issue
Inaugural Edition, February 2008
The National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare is pleased to bring you the inaugural edition of Addiction News Now. This monthly publication will keep you up to date on federal addiction policies, ground breaking research, and issues and events that are making headlines across the country. The National Council is committed to strengthening and expanding addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery services nationwide and providing the information necessary to effect change on the local, state, and federal level.
From the halls of Congress to the Presidential race and beyond, we will be fighting to increase access to addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery services by seeking additional federal funding, ending discriminatory practices that limit access to care, further developing the workforce, and diverting people from the criminal justice system who would be better served with community-based care.
The National Council applauds the effort of its members to implement innovative projects on the state and local level that expand addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery. We encourage you to share with us information about your organization's efforts in the local community and/or state. We look forward to partnering with each of you to translate your power and knowledge into change that matters.
We welcome your feedback and suggestions. Please email me at AlexaE@thenationalcouncil.org or call 301.984.6200 ext. 243.
Alexa Eggleston, J.D.
Director of Public Policy
In This Issue
ON THE HILL
Outlook for 2nd session of 110th Congress
IN THE NEWS
Feds to track buprenorphine deaths
First cocaine, meth addictions fighter
Reducing drinking in ER patients
Utah initiative links addiction treatment and probation
EVENTS IN THE FIELD
Faces and Voices of Recovery teleconference series
SAMHSA awards for evidence-based interventions
New NIDA Networking Project website
38th National Council Conference
ON THE HILL
Outlook for the 2nd Session of the 110th Congress
The 110th Congress recently started its 2nd session, and our legislative priorities for the upcoming year are quickly taking shape, with national advocates seeking to move a range of unresolved issues from the last session to the forefront of a crowded agenda.
Senior Senate and House staff indicate that passage of the Mental Health and Addiction Parity bill (H.R.1424/S.558) remains a priority of the Congressional leadership; although H.R. 1424 has not been scheduled for a vote by the full House, sources indicate that a vote could occur end of February or mid-March.
On February 4th, President Bush issued the final budget request of his presidency for FY09. Proposed funding for programs in Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and Health Resources Services Administration would range from sizable cuts to small increases. The budget highlights several administration priorities for SAMHSA related to substance use disorder prevention and treatment, including $40 million for drug court services, $56 million to integrate screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment of drug abuse in emergency departments and other health care settings, and $98 million for the Access to Recovery program.
Under the President's proposal, SAMHSA would receive $3.025 billion, a cut of approximately $200 million from the FY08 funding level of $3.234 billion. The Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block grant would receive an increase of $20 million, but the Programs of Regional and National Significance across the three SAMHSA Centers, CSAT, CSAP and CMHS, would receive a combined reduction of $250 million. Despite the trend to reduce spending in most SAMHSA programs, several programs within CMHS would receive small increases, including $12 million for the Children's Mental Health Grant and $6 million for the grants to states for Projects for Assistance in Transition From Homelessness. The Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Grant within the Department of Education, which funds critical school based prevention activities, has been targeted again for a significant reduction of $195 million from the FY08 budget level.
The research institutes, the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism within the National Institutes of Health, would both receive small increases over their FY08 budgets. With significant cuts to many critical programs, we will be urging members of Congress to make funding for mental health and substance use disorder prevention, treatment, research and recovery a top priority in restoring budget cuts and allocating additional funding.
Other issues of interest to the addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery field, but lower on the bipartisan radar screen of House and Senate staff include reauthorization of SAMHSA, final passage of the Second Chance Act Reentry bill (H.R. 1593/S.1060), and the NIDA and NIAAA Name Redesignation Act (H.R. 1348/S.1011). Hill staff also indicate that there may be movement on legislation to improve treatment services for youth involved in the juvenile justice system through reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act and to authorize additional addiction prevention, treatment, and workforce development programs under the auspices of SAMHSA and the Department of Justice.
The National Council will continue to provide updates on the federal budget process, including reporting out on the programs that fund alcohol and drug addiction prevention, treatment, recovery and research.
SAMHSA Reauthorization Update
After months of Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee staff deliberation and meetings with advocacy groups, a draft bill was released in early December to reauthorize SAMHSA. Although there was initially an indication that a hearing would be held to mark-up (review) the bill during the first week in February, it appears the hearing has been postponed while the Senate HELP Committee resolves language addressing the "Charitable Choice" regulations enacted in 2000 as part of SAMHSA reauthorization. According to SAMHSA, the "Charitable Choice" provisions ensure that religious organizations are able to compete on an equal footing for federal substance abuse funding administered by SAMHSA, without impairing the religious character of such organizations and without diminishing the religious freedom of SAMHSA beneficiaries. These provisions apply to recipients of the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant funds, the Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness formula grant funds, and to SAMHSA discretionary grant funds for substance abuse prevention and treatment services. A coalition of religious, civil rights, educational, women's, advocacy, and other organizations are urging members of Congress to enact changes to the "charitable choice" provisions in current law before the bill moves forward. The National Council will continue to monitor developments related to this issue.
Join Us for the National Council's 4th Annual Hill Day, June 18
The National Council's Fourth Annual Hill Day, scheduled for Wednesday, June 18, 2008, is fast approaching! Hill Day is the opportunity for you to engage your members of Congress and take a lead role in shaping federal public policy in 2008. Please save the date and plan to join your fellow National Council members in Washington for two days of events designed to provide Hill Day participants with in-depth information on key issues. For more information visit www.TheNationalCouncil.org/HillDay.
IN THE NEWS
The addiction treatment drug buprenorphine will come under closer scrutiny in a new federal initiative to track the deaths of opiate addicts taking it or methadone, the Baltimore Sun reports. SAMHSA officials hope the new tracking system will significantly improve the safety and quality of drug treatment for more than 400,000 addicts across the country. The Sun reported last month that while buprenorphine can be a highly effective addiction medicine, misuse of the drug is on the rise. Drug treatment programs will be asked by federal officials to report information about deaths. Health officials stress that both methadone and buprenorphine are safe when taken properly and help ease cravings addicts feel for opiates.
According to Chicago Sun Times, Ovation Pharmaceuticals is reporting that its drug vigabatrin, being developed to treat cocaine and methamphetamine dependence, has landed "fast track" designation from U.S. regulators, potentially speeding up the process for market approval. The drug would be the first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treatment of these addictions. The anticonvulsant drug, to be marketed under the brand name Sabril, is believed to block the craving and euphoria associated with cocaine and meth use. It is thought to work by increasing brain levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid, a transmitter that inhibits certain activity in the brain. Ovation is collaborating with the National Institute on Drug Abuse on Phase II studies to evaluate the safety of the drug. Phase III trials are expected to be launched by the end of next year.
Asking emergency department patients about their alcohol use and talking with them about how to reduce harmful drinking patterns is an effective way to lower rates of risky drinking in these patients, according to a nationwide collaborative study supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and SAMHSA. Emergency department patients who underwent a regimen of alcohol screening and brief intervention reported lower rates of risky drinking at three-month follow-up than did those who received only written information about reducing their drinking. A report of the study by the Academic Emergency Department Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment Research Collaborative* appears in the December, 2007 issue of the Annals of Emergency Medicine.
Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Weekly recently reported on a Utah addiction treatment initiative for court involved individuals intended to create a better partnership between the treatment and probation systems. Funded under Utah's Drug Offender Reform Act, officials with the county Division of Substance Abuse, which serves as the county's publicly financed continuum of care in addiction treatment, say most clients will receive intensive outpatient services, in keeping with the community-based structure of the probation system. The goals of the DORA effort are threefold: to reduce criminal recidivist behavior in participants, to lower costs related to lengthy stays in incarceration, and to improve retention rates in treatment for this high-risk population. The state Department of Corrections and Department of Human Services (which includes the behavioral health division) are overseeing the lion's share of program funding, but the effort also involves several other state agencies and panels, including the board that processes and analyzes parole and probation cases.
EVENTS IN THE FIELD
Join Faces and Voices of Recovery for its series of 2008 Recovery Advocacy teleconferences. Growing numbers of recovery community organizations and recovery advocates across the country are getting involved in nonpartisan civic engagement activities so that their voices can be heard in the local, state, and national arenas. They are conducting voter registration and Get-Out-the-Vote activities, sponsoring candidate forums and getting candidates for political office on record about critical policies that will make recovery a reality for even more Americans.
"Recovery Community Centers Part 1": February 27 at 3:00 pm EST
"Recovery Community Centers Part 2": March 26 at 3:00 pm EST
SAMHSA has issued a call for applications for its 2008 Science and Service Awards, a national program that recognizes community-based organizations and coalitions that have shown exemplary implementation of evidence-based mental health and substance abuse interventions. A maximum of five awards will be made in each of the five categories: substance abuse prevention, treatment of substance abuse and recovery support services, mental health promotion, treatment of mental illness and recovery support services, and co-occurring disorders. To be eligible for an award, an organization must have successfully implemented a recognized evidence-based intervention. Applications must be emailed or postmarked by March 31, 2008.
New NIDA Website to Facilitate Information-Sharing and Collaboration
The National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health, announced the availability of a new website designed to encourage drug abuse researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to share information across disciplines, networks and institutions. The NIDA Networking Project website provides access to the locations, people, and resources of NIDA-sponsored research networks, including, for example, the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network and the NIDA Genetics Consortium. The goal is to encourage cooperative scientific discussion and research collaboration to accelerate addiction science. Information on the site includes an NNP Colleagues Directory, a searchable data base of network participants' expertise and research interests.
Join great people with great ideas for behavioral healthcare's most important and most popular conference. The 38th National Council Conference takes place at the Marriott Copley Place in Boston, Massachusetts, May 1-3, 2008. For the first year the National Council on Community Behavioral Healthcare will be sponsoring an addiction track featuring prominent federal officials and national experts on emerging technologies and current best practices in the treatment of addiction disorders.
